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mass media effect on youth and children
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mass media effect on youth and children
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America the beautiful? Or America the superficial? This question refers to how America has become enamored with physical appearances due to this overwhelming pressure from society to achieve the “perfect body.” We seek to achieve this aesthetic because society correlate having ideal body with the rewards of being attractive, successful, and acceptance by society. Body shaming is a never ending cycle that remains constant in society by media factors of celebrity influence, advertisements, and social media.
The people we see on our television, radios, and magazine have the immense power to influence opinion and enable action. It is human nature that people are drawn to thoughts, feelings, and action of celebrities; they are social catalysts.
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It is clear that social media is most influential towards our young generation, which is why I believe this is how body shaming has spread to our generation. The argument is made that importance of looks in American society is negatively effecting on our new generation. Our nation’s children are being raised around the concept of body-shaming, which is altering our children’s. Being slim has increasingly become our children’s biggest social pressure as childhood obesity is associated with negative social and psychological consequences during childhood that could affect them into adulthood (ex. bullying.) For example, Critic Renee Hobbs states that due to the contributions of mass media messages, females, in particular, begin putting an emphasis on physical appearance from an increasing younger and younger age: “Finding a young woman who is never worried about her weight is almost as impossible as finding a magic pill that melts fat overnight.”(Hobbs) Research has proven that worldwide the increase in negative eating behaviors, such as anorexia and bulimia among adolescents has been directly proportional to the increase in advertisements for weight-loss products from 1994 to 2002. (Hobbs) For example, critic Nick Fox cites the underground movement of the
We hear sayings everyday such as “Looks don’t matter; beauty is only skin-deep”, yet we live in a decade that contradicts this very notion. If looks don’t matter, then why are so many women harming themselves because they are not satisfied with how they look? If looks don’t matter, then why is the media using airbrushing to hide any flaws that one has? This is because with the media establishing unattainable standards for body perfection, American Women have taken drastic measures to live up to these impractical societal expectations. “The ‘body image’ construct tends to comprise a mixture of self-perceptions, ideas and feelings about one’s physical attributes. It is linked to self-esteem and to the individual’s emotional stability” (Wykes 2). As portrayed throughout all aspects of our media, whether it is through the television, Internet, or social media, we are exploited to a look that we wish we could have; a toned body, long legs, and nicely delineated six-pack abs. Our society promotes a body image that is “beautiful” and a far cry from the average woman’s size 12, not 2. The effects are overwhelming and we need to make more suitable changes as a way to help women not feel the need to live up to these unrealistic standards that have been self-imposed throughout our society.
Research shows “that regular readers of fashion and beauty magazines in early adolescence are more likely to suffer from a distorted body image during their teenage years” (“Children, Adolescents and the Media”), when they read beauty magazines they read articles and tips of how to look better and they try to them all to look and feel better about themselves. Research shows that “more than three-quarters of girls repot that television influenced their body image” (Mascarelli). Social media influences how we act and what we do Amanda Swartz once stated “Social media and mass media influence the way we react and interact with our world and potentially influence the perception of our own body image” (Mulliniks). In today’s worlds there are more ways to access websites to promote body image as a positive thing, “On the internet, there are now more than 100 pro anorexia websites that not only encourage disordered eating but offer specific advice on purging, severely restricting calories intake, and exercising excessively” (“Children, Adolescents and the Media”). It’s not a bad thing to eat healthy and work out to be fit and healthy but it’s another thing to eat less and work out excessively. Teens always compare themselves to others, either their peers, models and celebrities, “People are on Facebook or Instagram and they’re constantly comparing themselves to other people” (Mulliniks). Also reality television shows, show only the glamorous about what is happening, like “when teen moms become celebrities, the message to avoid teen pregnancy is lost” (Kroll). When teens watch shows like Teen Mom they don’t see the entire negative about becoming pregnant as a teen they see that the teen mom got famous and is on the show. Social media, media, magazines, and TV give teen’s unrealistical facts about body image, pregnancy and
Ever since the development of the media such as television, the internet, various fashion magazines and commercial advertisements, society focused more and more on personal appearances. Not only were runway models becoming slimmer but the viewers that watched and read about them were becoming more concerned with their weight. In the past fifty years the number of adolescent girls developing eating disorders increased just as television, advertisements, and magazines were becoming a social norm that was easily and often available. Today, more than ever, adolescents are worrying about weight, shape, size and body image and. It does not help that these children are growing up in a world filled with media material emphasizing dangerously skinny bodies as beautiful and perfect. Anne Morris and Debra Katzman, authors of “The Impact of the Media on Eating Disorders in Children and Adolescents” argue that the media is corrupting individuals to develop eating disorders and body dissatisfaction. “Exploring the Role Society and the Media Play in the Development of an Eating Disorder and the Media Influence on Eating Disorders” claims that there are other factors leading to eating disorders other than media, such as genetics, or public and cultural pressure. "Body Image Within the Vandy Bubble" defends the argument by saying that although media is causing harm in society by portraying extremely thin women and that beauty and thinness go hand in hand, but there are media corporations that are positively informing individuals about healthy body image.
As a result of the wide variety of media that is in the world, it plays as one of the main factors to most of the body distortion and low self-esteems that is put on men and women. According to Lau, beauty or body perfection, “...is a social/cultural construct, and that advertising, lifestyle/entertainment magazines, movies, scripted and reality television, documentaries and even public service campaigns all play a role in normalising the unrealistic pursuit of body perfection” (Lau, Harris-Moore…). Because of the broad variety of media there is, each has a different perspective on what the ideal ‘real beauty’ is, this causes a lot of pressure to be put upon people on how they should truly appear. In addition, media is also setting the standards that people should start looking like celebrities. As stated by a plastic surgeon, Z. Paul Lorenc in The Culture of Beauty, is that “...one of several concerns is the more and more Americans are seeking plastic surgery because of the very high beauty bar set by celebrities” (Gerdes, The Culture of Beauty). Due to the media constantly flaunting how attractive celebrities are, it makes men and women feel as if they are not good enough and that they need to modify themselves to become socially acceptable in the eye of
Picture the world controlled by the media. Could you imagine how ugly, scarce, and hateful it would be. What would you do if a magazine or a television show told you that your body weight had to be twenty pounds lighter to be all most perfect? Would you actually consider the fact or let ignore it? Teens, mainly girls, will be sucked into these magazines. (National Eating Disorders Info Centre 15) These could be magazines like Seventeen and Cosmo Girl. In addition with many others of course. All though, the media is a bad example at times it is not precisely the main issue for negative body image. (National Eating Disorders Association 1) All though, these constant screaming messages the media produces can progress to something more serious. (National Eating Disorders Association 1) More serious as in an eating disorder.
Recent studies have shown that approximately 75 percent of adolescent females wish to be thinner and over 35 percent of them resort to drastic extremes to achieve the new “thin ideal.” (Body Dissatisfaction in Early Adolescent Girls) Today in our culture, this ideal of body image is portrayed in every aspect of our lives. We see a representation of attractive, extremely thin women in magazines, television shows, movies, commercials, etc. The new body image, which today is described as being perfect, is a new, unrealistic standard of skinny. This type of representation presented by the media compels female adolescents to view themselves in negative ways which results in eating disorders, body dissatisfaction, or even depression. The new standard of the “thin ideal,” according to society, is simply unattainable and irrational. So the question still remains: How has the media altered female adolescence’s perspectives on the “perfect” body image, and how has this changed our female society?
As Grogan (1999) explains, one’s estimation of his or her appearance referred to as body image. Body dissatisfaction develops when negative judgments about one’s physical body contradict the ideal perception of the perfect body (Szymanski & Cash, 1995; Grogan, 1999). Having issues with body image and dissatisfaction during the most critical developmental period may place adolescents at a high risk of developing eating disorders. The effect of social media on body image and eating behaviors can be explained by a number of theories. The sociocultural theory, which is described by Thompson, Heinberg, & Tantleff-dunn (1999), can provide a structure to better understand the phenomenon of body dissatisfaction along with eating disorders. This theory
“ The media needs to take responsibility for the effect it has on our younger generation....why aren’t we regulating things like calling people fat”(Lawrence). The actress Jennifer Lawrence expressed her opinion in what she believes that the media is responsible for the damaging body image that has affected the younger generation into believing this image is ideal. Considering this quote, recently there have been more .The negative body image in female adolescents has been affected by the influence of impossible body types in the media such as the doll “Barbie” and characters in popular children shows.
In today's society, social media is directly affecting how the modern teenager perceives their body image. The struggle with not being able to prevent this issue is most teens are all about social media and all of its wonders. Teens spend most of their time on social media. Social media alternates these images body images and it becomes unhealthy for teens. These unhealthy stereotypes harass young adults in their daily lives. Teens struggle with the stereotypes causing them to do unhealthy things to their bodies. Social media's views on body image is causing people to form eating disorders and body image anxieties or concerns. Social media and body images affect teens´ self confidence which can lead teen to look at themselves differently and
According to Beverly Ballaro, the combination of two trends, the technology-enabled media saturation of the American public, and the promotion by this media of highly unattainable body types, is largely responsible for an epidemic of body image pathologies afflicting American girls and women, as well as an increasing number of boys and men. She also mentions that the media has given certain images for each gender. Generally, for females the body image is extremely thin, and there is an emphasis on large breasts and for males, tall, slender, muscular and toned. For both genders, the most valued and appreciated appearance i...
The media has a crucial influence on adolescents. Golan, Hagay and Tamir (2013) stated that “Since puberty, by its very nature, is associated with weight gain, adolescents frequently experience frequently experience dissatisfaction with their changing bodies” (p. 1). Young boys grow up with the expectation of having to become a strong, muscular, masculine man. Young girls see skinny models and movie stars and grow up thinking that it is only socially acceptable and attractive if they are also skinny, or very thin. “In a culture that glorifies thinness some adolescents, mostly girls, become excessively preoccupied with their physical appearance and begin to diet obsessively in an effort to achieve or maintain a thin body (Golan, Hagay & Tamir, 2013, 1). Little girls play with dolls that have narrow waists, full busts, lots of makeup and their hair done a certain way. Advertisers and manufacturers are portraying a particular body image with the dolls, and this makes little girls form an opinion on how they should look. “Young girls may engage in conversations...
Tiggemann and Zaccardo (2015) conducted research to explore the relationship between media and body image among young women attending universities. Studying university students is prevalent in researching body image because of the frequent use of social media and fashion magazines among young adults. Women’s magazines are one media format that focuses on body image and revenue. “For example, 83% of teenage girl’s report spending a mean of 4.3 hours a week reading magazines for pleasure or school” (Thompson & Heinberg, 1999, p. 341). The images presented in magazines are often unattainable for the average women and tends to oppress and manipulate women’s physical and mental health into conforming to the ideal (Wolf, 1991). Women 's magazines, probably more than any other form of mass media, have been criticized as being advocates and promoters of the desirability of an unrealistic and dangerously thin ideal (Wolf, 1991). Magazine articles and other types of media can lower women’s self esteem and create a negative body image. These realistic representations of people are created using Photoshop, photo editing, and filters. The artificial creation of the perfect body through social media has lead to negative self esteem, depression, and eating disorders throughout all stages of
The authors of Body Image (2016) stated “more than one-half of girls and one-third of boys as young as six think that they need to be thinner, and about one-quarter of children as young as seven have engaged in some sort of dieting behavior.” This should provide people, especially parents, with awareness that any child can feel like their body is not pleasurable at such a young age! However, as we grew out of our toys, we began to idolize celebrities. Watching them on shows, movies, songs, and articles many begin to compare themselves. The use of mass media has been abused causing pain to others. The images and visuals that the media displays make people want to strive to be someone else’s definition of perfect. As a result, this situation has led to many individuals encountering physical and mental problems; bulimia, anorexia and strict dietary plans can all be the harmful effects of social media. Bulimia Nervosa is when a person excessively eats and then diminishes the calories of the food consumed by using laxatives, extensive exercise, and vomiting. In comparison,
Whether it’s your phone, your television, or your magazines, it’s a constant thing in one’s life. The media is designed to reach large markets through the use of technology. The media uses stereotypes to market and portray what a "perfect" body should look like. Often times when women are shown in the media they are unrealistically thin, and have airbrushed skin. The same could be said for men, but with big muscles and washboard abs. The media gives off the idea that these bodies are normal when in reality it can be somewhat unrealistic. This can be damaging to a teen’s self image because they have a certain expectation of themselves without being able to attain it. In 2003, Teen Magazine reported that 35 percent of girls 6 to 12 years old have been on at least one diet, and that 50 to 70 percent of normal weight girls believe they are overweight. Boys may also feel pressured to do things such as weight training and steroids to achieve that “perfect”
American’s body image expectations are unrealistic. People in America grow up seeing magazines like Sports Illustrated, People, and Cosmopolitan. Seeing these magazines of famous people with perfect bodies, skin, hair, etc. makes people believe they have to look like that. These magazines are very edited, so not even that “perfect star” looks like that. Media comes into American heads and tells them unrealistic images of how they should look, when nobody can actually looks like that. The people who fit “perfectly” into American’s body image standards are people who have had plastic surgery to look the way they do. “The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery reported an increase of 446% in cosmetic procedures since 1997 and an overall increase of 8% in 2007, with a 17% increase in men undertaking cosmetic surgery.” says